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A highway trooper in Oklahoma had a near miss out on final week while supporting a driver when a bolt of lightning struck close by.

The Oklahoma Freeway Patrol mentioned on Facebook the incident happened on Thursday alongside the Turner Turnpike/Interstate 44 among Bristow and Stroud, found southwest of Tulsa.

According to a shorter assertion, the trooper experienced pulled in excess of to “assist with some equipment that had fallen off a trailer,” when the bolt strike the freeway.

Dashcam video exhibits the moment the bolt of lightning strikes close to the roadway as the officer walks nearby.

“Woah! That was close!” the highway patrol claimed.

It did not seem the officer suffered any injuries.

Past 12 months there were just 21 lightning-relevant fatalities, down from an average of 55 deaths per 12 months in 2001.

John Jensenius, a lightning protection professional with the Countrywide Lightning Security Council (NLSC), advised Fox Information past thirty day period there are even now some important misconceptions about lightning safety.

Jensenius reported he’s identified that people still think lightning is captivated towards metallic, even however it generally strikes the tallest object in the spot. People would believe that getting jewellery or metal in their pockets would someway make them additional inclined to currently being struck.

“It’s simply just the fact that they are exterior,” he stated.

A further fantasy is that rubber safeguards someone from lightning, since getting in a car all through a thunderstorm is safer than becoming outdoors. But according to Jensenius, that is due to a hard-topped metal auto and its steel shell currently being capable to distribute the electric powered charge if it’s struck.

People today also misjudge their length from approaching storms, wondering that the lightning rise may perhaps be considerably farther away than it truly is.

“They are in danger as soon as they hear a distant rumble of thunder,” he explained.